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Revelation 9:14
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14 Saying [lego] to the sixth [hektos] angel [aggelos] which [hos] had [echo] the trumpet, [salpigx] Loose [luo] the four [tessares] angels [aggelos] which [ho] are bound [deo] in [epi] the great [megas] river [potamos] Euphrates. [Euphrates] KJV-Interlinear
14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." NASB
The voice comes from the four horns of the golden alter of incense. The golden alter represents the policy of God that allows no one but those who have believed in Christ, to approach God.
Those who have rejected Christ, may not approach God in any manner whatsoever. Their works are not as good as the work of Christ on the Cross. Mans works cannot save.
Jesus Christ executes the plan of the Father, therefore, it is He who has the right to speak in behalf of that plan.
The voice gave an order to the angel which held the sixth trumpet. That order was to release four demons who had been incarcerated (bound) in the Euphrates River.
These four angels are not specifically identified, but they are four specific leaders of massive demon armies. And as we will see in just a couple of more verses, they lead four army groups numbering fifty million demons in each army.
Humanity has had several warnings, from human failure, to natural catastrophes, and with this next judgment, humanity will see the second supernatural judgment. The first supernatural judgment we saw just this past week, with the five month torments from massive numbers of demons.
The first demon judgment had no specific numbers, but it had one leader. This judgment comes with four generals leading an army of demons numbering at two-hundred million demons. This is not a human army, for no human has been bound anywhere along the Euphrates for all of human history.
The last days have been imminent since the time that John wrote these words. And no human army could have possibly numbered in that size way back then.
The Euphrates River has been a boundary and a symbolic division between civilization and non-civilization since back in Johns day and prior. It was the western boundary of the promised nation of Israel, and is the source from which many of Israel's enemies came.
In Johns day, it was the eastern boundary of Rome. Beyond that boundary were uncivilized barbarians and enemies of Israel and Rome.
Therefore literally and symbolically, these four demon leaders and their armies, have been held at bay and prevented from crossing the symbolic boundary into the venue of humanity, and prevented from bringing harm to humanity.
That is until this specific date in time. We will see that in the next verse. There is a schedule for judgments and they are next on that schedule of Gods timetable.
In the first series of disasters, believers were the target of human atrocities. Then God brought judgment against unbelievers as a warning first. That will be rejected.
In the first series of disasters, one-fourth of the population of the world will die. That makes for a huge indictment against unbelieving humanity. They do not change.
Now the next judgment will take a tremendous toll against those unbelievers and the entire population of the world.
In this universe there are two great opposing forces, those of Satan, and God. To doubt that, is a tremendous mistake on anyone's part.
Humanity is caught in between them. God wants us all to be saved, to see truth and live in heaven forever.
Satan wants to defeat God and destroy all of humanity, for no other reason than he hates God.
Satan possesses a siren call of sorts, which sings from the world, to all of humanity, calling man to its enticements, to its lusts, to its ego and power and control concepts. All of which are destined to disaster for any who listen and pursue them.
Many calls are subtle suggesting that you need not comply with any of Gods mandates or principles, that you need not recognize any authority but your own, that you need not conform to any principle of truth, that you can pursue virtually anything with the assumption of innocence doing no harm to anyone. Those suggestions are all lies.
However, the more that people resist compliance with truth, the deeper they dig themselves into a pit of despair and disaster. Even the resistance to studying Gods word daily, leads to a lack of spiritual resources and makes one susceptible to Satan’s cosmos ideology.
And as we have already studied in Thessalonians, that negative attitude toward God and doctrine, will eventually lead to the great apostasy at the end of our own Church Age, and that will become the catalyst for bringing on the Rapture and the Tribulation.
The Tribulation (that future seven year period) is what we are currently studying.
For it is that future period, that the great wine press of judgment will squeeze and separate out the very last believer in humanity, leaving only unbelievers and evil remaining for their final judgments.
What is coming is very real. The history that will lead up to it (our failure in this dispensation) is very real.
You have but to decide whether you are going to be a passive part of that failure, or whether you are going to get your act together and abide by those things that God wants of you.
At some point you might want to review (again, or for the first time), the spiritual checklist (in the special studies library) which we put together some time ago.
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